This short film was mostly made to show the Investors what kind of feature length horror film to what Sam Raimi and his friends are trying to make. it went on to premiere in front of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" that was playing in Detroit, most of the audience really loved the short film but, it wasn't a commercially success. Sam Raimi went to Approaching several investors in order to make his feature length horror entitled,"The Evil Dead." The plot of the film is the same as the movies teens hang out in the woods and get pick off by the spirit and demons one by one. The quality of the short film is pretty bad looking, it's kind of hard to see, which it's understandable because, it was shot in a super 8 camera. There are parts in the film that will later be recycle in the other films, that you will recognize. the Necronomicon book is not in this film instead is a dagger. the only actors that appear in "The Evil Dead" are Bruce Campbell and Ellen Sandweiss, the difference in the film is Bruce in the short film is Possess by the spirit and Ellen is the hero but,in the movie Ellen gets Possess by the spirit and Bruce is the hero. Not really a big fan of the music, i just find the music not scary and also, there is one music piece that came from "Jaws." I personally find the short film not scary at all but, i got to give it credit for helping Sam and his friends to Make one of the best horror films ever made.

Raimi's Super-8 precursor to his cult debut feature THE EVIL DEAD (1983) is an amateurish half-hour piece about a geeky young man (the ubiquitous Bruce Campbell) coming under the influence of an Indian graveyard in the woods. A picnic with his girlfriend turns sour as he goes missing and then reappears as a zombie and attacks the young woman; his onslaught is unrelenting even after she reaches a cabin in the woods. The first half of this is pretty deadly (especially given the poor state of the footage) but the latter scenes involve some decent action and suspense – already showcasing the director's fondness for over-the-top gore effects. All things considered, a definite curio but not really worth more than a cursory viewing.

Within the Woods (1978) *** (out of 4) Early Sam Raimi short has Bruce Campbell and three friends going to the woods for the weekend when they disturb an Indian burial ground. When the sun falls demons and other ghouls go on the attack. Does this sound familiar? If you said it sounded like The Evil Dead then you're correct because this is the film Raimi shot to show investors to try and get money for the feature, which would eventually be released three years later. Needless to say, this doesn't hold a candle to the feature but fans will certainly want to check this out just to see how much Raimi kept from this movie and put into the future film and its sequel. I was really surprised to see Raimi using many of the same techniques but many of them, like the point of view shots of the creature going over the ground, work very well here. I think the film gets a little long winded as it runs just over 30-minutes but there's still a lot to enjoy here. Campbell turns in a charming performance as does Scott Spiegel. I've read the film had the budget of $1,600 and with that in mind it's amazing how much they were able to put into the short.

Sypnosis: Two couples go to a farmhouse for the weekend. One couple goes out for a picnic and accidentally wake evil spirits. Will they survive Within the Woods?Within the Woods(1978) was, as mentioned above, a damn good little film. Sam Raimi definitely knew where he was going with this when he directed it. Bruce Campbell, of course, delivers, (he never did make a bad performance, did he? I mean, he's the only reason to watch Herbie the love bug and Congo...) and Ellen Sandweiss is believable as the tormented Ellen. Scott Spiegel and Mary Valenti perform to the extent of their roles. (I.E. cannon fodder...) It was shot with approximatively 1,600$ of budget in a three day weekend in Michigan. It premiered in August 1979 at the Punch and Judy theatre in Detroit double-billed with the Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)The good: This movie heralds the birth of the Evil Force, a Raimi horror staple, along with his crazy camera movements. The makeup by Tom Sullivan is great for a first feature and the film has enough gory moments in the latter half. The film was so intense, that even if the super-8 projector filled a 1/4 of the screen, the audience actually reacted to it!The bad: No available copy (excluding of course Raimi's and Campbell's) has high quality or sound and is hard as all hell to find. Let's hope some day Anchor Bay closes the deal to release this little gem.Review: 5/5